CONFERENCE
The publication is available here
The leading European and global information agencies, including BBC, spread the information on the results of the research. However, this information was not presented precisely in Latvia and more accurate data is available in the US site The Verge. Interest in the research keeps growing, and European as well as American scientific and popular media provide new information every day.
Mārcis Leja, Head of the Latvian Scientists’ group, Professor of the UL Faculty of Medicine, Head of the Science Division of Riga Eastern Clinical University Hospital, and gastroenterologist of the GASTRO Digestive Diseases Centre, comments on the research results: “The research report published this week is the result of successful scientific cooperation. I am confident to say that our international collaboration partners representing TECHNION, Israel Institute of Technology, are the world’s leading group developing nanotechnologies, applied for the analysis of exhaled breath with an artificial nose, and we proposed to apply this method for detecting gastric cancer and precancerous lesions. It is also the result of successful cooperation between the University of Latvia and Riga Eastern Clinical University Hospital, since all the patients involved in the research were examined and treated in this hospital. After several years of work, we have reached the result that has attracted the attention of international scientific community.
At this point, there is no ideal test for detecting gastric cancer or precancerous lesions without using endoscopy. Determination of pepsinogen in blood is considered to be the most effective blood test; however, this test is positive only for one third of the patients with gastric cancer. The research group of the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, led by A. Linē, has developed a tumour antibody panel that allows reaching higher precision, and the work on its improvement is still ongoing. Though molecular biology tests and panels are developed worldwide, such diagnostic methods are very expensive. Cancer screening tests must be accurate, and inexpensive. The analysis of exhaled breath can meet these requirements.
This is one of the first steps towards developing such a test for detection of gastric cancer. The first research was carried out by examining patients in China, and the analysis was also performed in TECHNION laboratories. We participated in this data analysis. Our research stands out with two essential novelties: firstly, the number of patients is significantly larger, and this is one of the world’s greatest studies carried out in the field of breath-analysis tests. Secondly, we made it possible to not only detect cancer, but also precancerous lesions. We performed more detailed examination of our patients.
It will take time for the exhaled breath analysis to be implemented in medical practice, but scientists keep working on it. For example, the method assessment is currently being carried out for wider population not showing any signs of the disease (www.gistar.eu).
It must be noted that the Latvian part of the project was implemented owing to the research by the University of Latvia and the Latvian Council of Science: (Volatile Biomarkers for Detecting Gastric Cancer and Precancerous Lesions: Concepts and Impact Assessment of Microflora of the Digestive System (Gaistošie biomarķieri vēža un paaugstināta vēždraudes riska stāvokļu noteikšanai: koncepcijas pierādīšana un gremošanas sistēmas mikrofloras ietekmes izvērtēšana).
